The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") proposed a rule to modify the method by which small banks are assessed for purposes of contributing to the deposit insurance fund. The proposed rule would make assessment rates for small banks more forward looking in capturing risk, and would be revenue neutral. The rule would affect banks with less than $10 billion in assets that have been insured by the FDIC for a minimum of five years by reallocating premium costs amongst such banks based on their risk profiles. The FDIC published an online assessment calculator

The SEC's corrections to the final regulations of its "Amendments for Small and Additional Issues Exemptions under the Securities Act (Regulation A)" were published in the Federal Register. The corrections amend revisions to Item 101(a) of the final regulations, which were published in the Federal Register on April 20, 2015. The corrections became effective on July 1, 2015. See: 80 FR 37537. Related news: SEC Updates Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations Regarding Regulation A (June 24, 2015); SEC's Regulation A+ Amendments Published in Federal Register (April 20, 2015); Washington State

The SEC charged an investment advisory firm and its two owners with fraudulently inflating the prices of securities in hedge fund portfolios they managed. An SEC investigation found that an adviser from AlphaBridge Capital Management ("AlphaBridge") told investors and the company's auditor that it obtained independent price quotes from broker-dealers for certain unlisted, thinly traded residential mortgage-backed securities. Instead, the SEC found, AlphaBridge gave internally derived valuations to broker-dealer representatives to pass off as their own. The inflated valuation of these assets

The SEC charged Deloitte Touche LLP ("Deloitte") with violating auditor independence rules. According to the SEC, Deloitte violated rules that concern the appearance of independence by not following its own procedures for conducting an independence consultation before entering into a new business relationship with a trustee, and by not realizing that it had failed to do so until nearly five years later. The SEC also found that in audit reports, Deloitte represented that it was independent of the three funds even as its trustee served on their boards and audit committees simultaneously. See

President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York William C. Dudley discussed the evolution and growing influence of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure ("CPMI"). He delivered his remarks at the CPMI 25th Anniversary Conference in Basel, Switzerland, on June 30, 2015. Mr. Dudley outlined three major trends during his tenure as chair of the CPMI: (i) the development of a global financial system and the subsequent need for harmonization between national regulatory regimes, (ii) the increasing importance of financial market infrastructures ("FMIs") that corresponds to the